What's Nearby?

Knitters have knitted and crocheted many rows
while staying at the Ibis, with happy balls of yarn rolling under
the couches while knitters revealed the secrets of finding and
using the best yarns. One knitter could not fly to Florida without
her knitting, at a time when knitting needles were prohibited at
security checkpoints. Always the resourceful knitter, she took her
circular wood needles and strung them with two dozen brightly
colored beads and wore it as a necklace!!!! No problem in security
and getting on the plane…….then once onboard, she unstrung the
beads from the needles and resumed her rows of knitting across the
thousand-mile flight to Florida.

A near-retiring US prosecuting attorney
visited, on her way to the Middle East. She was
a Peace Corp worker in her younger years, then married a Samurai in
a full Japanese wedding ceremony, and now continues to serve her
country by leaving soon for Iraq, where she will “live in a box”
for 2 years, teaching legal techniques to
Iraquis. Then she has put in for another 2 years
in Afghanistanafter that. Her only hope was that
she would not have a roommate in her residential
“box”. Hats off to you, and
thanks!

During and after WWII there was a Canadian chicken
farmer who fed his flock of chickens free
leftover grain from a gin-making factory nearby,
since chicken feed was hard to get in winter.
The hens weren’t too thrilled with the taste, but one rooster
couldn’t get enough of it for a few days, and gorged himself
finishing off the feeder contents. The farmer
found him lying in the yard, non-responsive and cold, looking very
dead indeed. And since they really needed his
feathers in their home pillows, he plucked the rooster and
deposited his carcass atop a pile of still-warm
compost. Later that day, they heard
a rooster crowing and, looking out the window,
saw this plucked rooster strutting about the yard in the snow,
shivering and crowing like a banshee. Poor
farmer’s wife felt so sorry for him she knitted a custom jacket for
him to wear until the feathers grew back out…… which they did, but
I wish we had a picture of that…..

A young couple arrived still teary-eyed following a miscarriage, on
a trip to Floridagiven to them by their
coworkers. Devastated, the couple looked for
distractions and peace. The innkeeper suggested
swimming with the manatees in Crystal River, and although the wife
was afraid of underwater diving, she agreed to go and arrangements
were made. When they arrived back at the Ibis
Bed and Breakfast, they were glowing with peace, excitement and
hope. One of the baby manatees had approached
her and she waited underwater, and with its
flippers gently held her and looked directly into her
eyes. This was a definitely a sign to this
couple, that there was hope and promise for the future.

Alligator Lake has an overflow pond along 7th Avenue,
and alligator families have adopted the water as a nursery for
years. While walking a toy poodle near
this pond, the innkeeper spied a 4’ long alligator on the loose and
on the wrong side of the fencing, having sneaked through the
gate. Now the gator was trying to get back
through the fence to his watery nursery. Of
course the poodle was too big for him to salivate over, and the
poodle could care less about a loose reptile.
But there could be danger for that small alligator and for passing
children wanting to catch him, so a call was
made to Alligator Rescue, Inc., “We Bag ‘em and Tag
‘em”. But just an answering
machine. Second call was made to the City and
they finally agreed to send someone out, and he arrived but refused
to get out of his truck. Meanwhile, the
poodle is bored out of his mind and the gator is running back and
forth at the fence. Lo and behold, two trucks
stop and 2 guys come out (dressed like the Lone Ranger and Tonto),
one had a shovel and they bravely moved the snarling, spitting,
jumping gator down the fence to the gate, where he slithered back
in and headed back to his pond nursery, and smiles were passed
around. The innkeeper woke up the poodle and
took him home. The silver bullets were never
found.

During slow summer months, toilets have to be cleaned even
though not used, and when the innkeeper lifted a toilet seat to
perform this duty, a 6” long green toad was staring at her from
under the rim. Since he was not a paying guest,
a towel was grabbed to snare him and release him outside, and the
problem was solved………….in a few weeks the toilet cleaning duty was
repeated, and the same green toad was resting in the same place
under the rim, staring at the innkeeper, daring her to disturb his
rest. Since he had no credit card in his mouth,
he was escorted outside to the nearest pond to enjoy more natural
surroundings, and the problem was solved……….a few weeks later the
innkeeper lifted the toilet seat again and this time there was a 4”
long green frog nesting under the rim. Tired of
this process, the innkeeper then took this frog to Alligator Lake
down the street and let it loose to frolic with the
alligators. No frog has been seen again
inside the Ibis, probably it got poor reviews in the Froggy Free
Stays website.

An old-fashioned July 4th in a quaint old-fashioned city!
Cool antiqueautomobiles, hot Corvettes, Celtic bands, Army vehicles and
Veterans groupswaved frantically to parade watchers of all ages on
Independence Day! Backdown to the city marina for vendors and childrens activities,
food andmusic, and culminating in the best fireworks display ever in
Safety Harbor!Next year join the Ibis guests, grab a beer or glass of wine
and wave at thedowntown traffic jams after the fireworks, while you relax
another holidaynight at the Ibis B&B!

The teenage and adult children of a middle-aged couple arranged for
a weekend stay at the Ibis Bed and Breakfast for their parents and
when they arrived beforehand with a dozen flowers, a bottle of
wine, and dinner for two for their mom and dad, the room was
prepared as a kingly castle. A
daughter asked if she could drop some rose petals on the bed before
they arrived, which she did. It wasn’t until
later that I found out the father was about to undergo extensive
chemotherapy the day after they left the
Ibis. With tears in my eyes, I was more
than happy to pick up the rose petals when they left, and wish him
good health.

Two brothers from opposite coasts of the United States, who
had not been in touch for six months, decided to
come to Safety Harbor at the same time for a getaway with their
wives, but did not inform each other of their
plans. Brother #1 checked in with his wife to
the Ibis Bed and Breakfast, and the next day as they were returning
who should be checking in but brother #2!